Colossus could only go on, "Was this before or after Magneto acquired us for his team

Disclaimer: Marvel owns all X-Men related things, though I own this fic and the general concept for it.

Rating: Rated M for language and mature subject matter.

For ROMY AMV fans: If anyone is interested, go to YouTube and search for Rogue Gambit videos. Anything by "karebare89" was made by myself. I have made 6 videos for ROMY. Three are from Evolution, two are slideshows of images, and one is from X-Men: The Animated Series. Hope you guys check 'em out.

WOW! Thanks for the great response in reviews, guys! It kinda gives me that boost to keep writing. Don't worry, I have this story planned out. So you can expect it to keep coming.

Enjoy the chapter!!

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Gambit could only show a limited amount of regret towards the situation. Storm's expression read completely of shock, similar to Kitty's. He had hoped that by joining the X-Men, he would eventually amend for every past crime he had committed.

It didn't seem like that would be the case.

Colossus could only go on, "Was this before or after Magneto acquired us for his team?"

Gambit hunched his shoulders, willing himself to maintain his dignity and his pride. No matter how sickly ill he felt about what he had done by getting them involved, it was now in his nature to make it seem to anyone around him that he felt calm with the situation.

He refused to panic.

"After," it was said so plainly, "It happened durin' de Apocalypse. It was why none o' you were able to find me… I didn' wanna be found."

It was dumbfounding to Colossus, "But… vhy?"

"Soon after we disbanded de Acolytes, when I was sortin' out a few t'ings in Louisiana, somet'in' with my powers changed. I never had it analyzed or nothin', but I t'ink I developed a second mutation; kinda like Rogue did de last few weeks. It changed so drastically, I couldn' control it."

Gambit's eyes narrowed, remembering the scenario that lead him to commit one of the most self-hated acts in his history, "My powers started reactin' based on my thoughts, my instincts, not just by the touch of another object. So if I even looked at a book or my cards, they blew up in an instant. Anyt'ing within my line of vision became an instant bomb."

Gambit was literally exposing one of his weakest moments, when he wasn't able to control what he was. Shadowcat, though still distraught, could only imagine how he must have felt; probably so similar to what Rogue went through everyday.

"Problem was my lack of control. It would happen so randomly, jus' when I thought I had it under control. It got bad enough dat I nearly destroyed my own brot'er's home. After dat, I tried puttin' myself in isolation, avoidin' anyone that I could harm."

While sympathy did worm it's way back into Colossus' large heart, he was still cautious of Gambit. How ironic; barely a month ago, he was defending his fellow teammate as a new member of the X-Men. Now… he wasn't so sure he should have. What ghosts had Gambit brought unto the X-Men?

"It was 'round dat time dat Sinister approached me. He proposed mutant experimentation to help with the changes. I turned him down at first. But when he showed me de trials he had been runnin' … it gave me hope dat maybe if I just had it removed… dat would be it. T'ings would go back to they way dey were. Sinister promised absolute control without any strings, just a few favors… I had to take it. I was used being contracted to work. It's what we as t'ieves do, and it was what I did for Magneto. I didn' t'ink it would be any different. An' I was getting' desperate."

"What did… he do to you?" Storm asked.

Gambit remembered how Sinister had worded it, "Dere's a part of our brains as mutants dat controls certain aspects of our mutations. Sinister removed the unlimited amount of energy I could use and gave it a limit… so dat I couldn' use my powers without having to concentrate on dem. He essentially reprogrammed my energy levels. I'd rather concentrate on it den have everything around me blown to pieces."

Shadowcat tried to maintain some faith in Gambit, hoping to find some reasoning, "Why… didn't you just come to the Institute? The Professor would have been able to do something."

"I was goin' to… I really was. But… I just couldn' de Institute at risk. You had no idea how powerful and resistant de blasts were." Gambit paused, remembering his main reason for not coming to the school first, "I wouldn' allow myself to put anyone else at risk. Sinister gave me dat option… gave me a chance to not hurt anyone again. An instant cure."

Nightcrawler only wanted to hear what he knew Gambit was still hiding from them.

"Vhat vere ze favors Sinister asked of you in return?"

Gambit barely reacted to it.

"I was given de charge of collecting and organizing de Marauders."

All their heads snapped up to Colossus as they heard his chains being yanked… hard, "You?! You vere responsible for that group of terrorists?!"

Gambit's face was stern, he refused to falter to Colossus, especially when they were both powerless, "I had no intention of joinin' them. I was only ordered to seek out mutants dat Sinister would accept as superior to de cause he was enforcing. And turning my back on dat would mean my endangerin' everyone around me. I refused to let dat happen again."

"So you are now villing to sacrafice the Morlocks? Vhat kind of man vould do that?"

"I had no idea Sinister was going to attack the Morlocks when he told me to assemble the Marauders. I didn' even know dey would be terrorists. When I did find out about Sinister's ideals for mutant superiority, though, I immediately refused to help him anymore. I had done my job, and he let me go.

"I ain't sayin' I'm proud o' what I've done, but I am tryin' to make t'ings right."

"By having us all in chains, powerless to defend ourselves or ze Morlocks? Vhy didn't you tell us about zis sooner, Gambit?" Nightcrawler asked.

"I…" Gambit almost couldn't think of a reason. Why hadn't he told them? He should have known the X-Men would have gotten involved if Sinister had gone public with his mutant superiority campaign. He could have prepared them for this. Why?

… It was his own self-hatred.

"I… just couldn' live with what I realized I had done. I didn' wanna believe I had been selfish enough to risk the lives of mutants I didn' know so dat I could keep my way o' livin'. Tellin' you would have made it all de more real."

As this situation continued, Storm's way of thinking had returned to her and she began to think logically once more, "Well, that we shall worry about later then. For know, tell us what we need to do to get out of here and protect the Morlocks."

Gambit picked up on it immediately.

"De collars we're wearing are inhibitors. De only way to turn dem off is by using de key to take dem off or from the manual override, most likely Where Sinister's control systems are."

"So how are we supposed to get them off?" Shadowcat replied.

Gambit did a quick sweep across the cell, to see if there was anything he could use to pick his chains or the collar off. He then remembered his tools in his belt. And Nightcrawler as only a few short feet away.

"Nightcrawler, use your tail and get my lock picks from my belt."

Kurt reacted immediately and slouched his body as far forward as he could, his tail waging closer and closer to Gambit. It reached his trench coat, only millimeters from the belt. Gambit leaned forward, his arms nearly popping out of their sockets at the strain as he tried to get closer. It reached the pouch and he was able to grab the picks.

"I need the smallest of the set. Put it in-between my feet" Gambit said.

Nightcrawler dropped the bigger picks and, as requested, put the smallest between Gambit's feet. Gambit swiftly swung his legs up and over his head as he picked the lock off his right hand. He dropped his legs and grabbed the pick with his free hand as Shadowcat exclaimed with happiness. Kurt could only now think how handy being a thief really was.

"Alright, just let me test out de collar to see if I can get it off. It's trickier den de shackles."

"Take your time. We don't need anyone to get electrocuted by those things," Storm replied, finding the lost hope in the situation.

Gambit felt around for the key hole and found out that his regular picks weren't going to be enough for it. Sinister had changed the design slightly since Gambit had last seen the collars. He looked over to Wolverine, and saw that his wounds were still bleeding profusely. Gambit needed to find a way to get the collars off and fast.

But until then, he could at least get the others out of their shackles.

"De collars have been changed since I saw dem before," He started on getting Colossus out of his shackles as he explained, "It's a micro-chip key, not metal," Nightcrawler and Storm were immediately after, "We're either gonna need the actual key or a deprogrammer."

As Shadowcat was unlocked, she replied, "Maybe I can help with that."

Gambit gave her a strange look, but knelt down and gave her access to his collar to try out. If something went wrong, he rather it be to him than any of the others.

Shadowcat pried open the panel near the key slot, finding all the necessary keys to reopen the collars, or at least, shut them off, "Okay, I think I know how to do this. But in case I get it wrong… sorry in advance, Gambit."

"S'ok, petit'. Just go for it. We need to get Wolverine's off as top priority so he can heal his wounds," Gambit replied.

"Yeah, okay," she replied, getting to work and pressing the codes she thought would be most accurate.

Nightcrawler, Storm and Colossus waited on heavily hearts, though Storm was still thinking focused. She still had her secondary communicator in her belt and contacted the Professor.

"Professor, this is Storm. Can you hear me?"

The Professor replied quickly from relief, "Storm, I am so glad to hear you're all right. Where are the others?"

"Nightcrawler, Colossus, Shadowcat, Gambit and Wolverine are here with me. We are in a cell in the tunnels and Wolverine has been badly injured."

A pause from the Professor worried the group, "Jean and Cyclops are not with you?"

Storm and Nightcrawler exchanged worried looks at the reply, "No. Have they gone missing as well?"

"Yes. Ms. Marvel and her men have moved in and did not find either of them at their designated location. I am not even able to pick up Jean's telepathy. They must be unconscious."

Nightcrawler replied, trying to keep the situation calm, "Beast and Angel are not here eizer, Professor. Could zey be with Jean and Cyclops?"

Beast replied over the communicators, "Angel and I were recalled to the Blackbird after we found out the rest of you had disappeared. The same message was sent to Jean and Cyclops, but they must not have received it in time."

Kurt sighed with relief, "Sinister's men must have gotten zem. Maybe zey are in anozer cell,"

The professor came back onto the device, "They could very well be. Will you be able to get out of the cell?"

Storm quickly looked back to Gambit as he and Shadowcat were still working on the collars, "Gambit was able to get us out of our shackles, and he and Shadowcat are now figuring out how to remove the power inhibitors Sinister placed on us."

"Alright. Keep at it. I will inform Ms. Marvel of your status and we will figure out what to do next."

"Thank you, Professor. Over and out."

xxx

"Well well well, it looks like the little X-freaks are trying to worm their way out of their cell." Lady Mastermind said, watching one of the security cameras intently, finding their attempt at escape amusing, "It's about time."

"Yeah, I was wondering when sharing time from Gambit would end. He has certainly risked a lot by telling them of his involvement with us," Riptide replied, "Think they'll trust him after this? We could use it to our advantage."

"Nah. If Xavier is one thing, it's forgiving. If he can trust Gambit, the rest of them will," Harpoon interjected as he sat across the room.

"But you have to admit… he doesn't exactly have the puppy-dog look; especially with those eyes," Arclight replied, "No matter how endearing they may be."

"Well just don't fall too hard, Philly," Regan said, her face plastered with malice, "Just think about how he'll squirm for leaving our team when he sees that we not only have what will destroy him, Ms. Marvel, and the X-Men, but that it is the very person he loves most."

"In other words, 'To the one I love… prepare to die'."

"Precisely," the voice that came could only match the name of the man it belonged to, "How much longer shall it take for those fools to escape?"

"Well, looks like the Kitty-Kat nearly has the collar encryption decoded. Should be no more than 10 minutes, Mr. S" Arclight replied.

"Good. And since they know 2 of their teammates are still missing, they will come looking for them. We eliminate them, and the rest of the X-Men, before Ms. Marvel arrives to assist. And then, we take down those poor, pathetic Morlocks, with no one to stop us! It's the perfect set-up."

Sinister's right hand woman could only reply, "I couldn't agree more."

xxx

"Got it!" Shadowcat exclaimed. After shocking Gambit a few times, she finally got the right codes and deactivated the collar. It didn't come off, but that was formality.

Gambit was ecstatic, raising one of his playing cards and charging it, proving that his powers had indeed returned.

"Alright, petit'. Deactivate Wolverine's collar. I'll try to find a way out of here."

"No need. I vill smash through these walls until we find Sinister," Colossus replied, earning various confused looks from his fellow X-Men.

"Really, I think you guys take too much pleasure in making things go 'boom'," Shadowcat remarked.

Colossus looked a bit disheartened by the comment, but thought little of it when Gambit approached him. His expression seemed serious.

"Vhat is it?" he asked.

"I really didn' mean fo' dis to happen, Pete," Gambit started, "If I could take it all back… I would."

Colossus registered Gambit's sincerity. After determining that an enemy of the X-Men would not help them escape or risk his safety for their own, he decided that mistakes are mistakes. Gambit had just made a few more in his life than Colossus had.

"No harm done, comrade," He replied, offering a forgiving smile and resting a hand on Gambit's shoulder, as a sign of peace, "Vell, not to me, anyvays."

Colossus motioned to Wolverine, Shadowcat clicking away at his collar, "I'm not sure if Wolverine heard had you said just now, but if he finds out about you forming ze Marauders, you may vant to learn how to become intangible like little Katya over zere."

Kitty giggled at Piotr's comment, looking over her shoulder, realizing he was looking at her as well. She turned back to the collar, blushing, "Okay, Wolverine's is deactivated too."

It took a few moments – a few tense moments – but Wolverine's wounds began to heal over. A sigh of relief broke out amongst the group as they let him recoup. Shadowcat moved onto working to get Nightcrawler's collar off so that he could teleport outside the cell and have a look around for a proper escape plan. Storm was next, and then Colossus.

Wolverine had regained his consciousness by this point, nearing complete physical health. The other had agreed to keep gambit's not-so-little secret from him, at least until this fiasco of a mission was over.

They determined that in none of the other cells were Jean and Cyclops held. So Nightcrawler would teleport them outside of the cell and they would then find Sinister and force him to them where the others were being held.

They gradually made their way up to the higher levels of the tunnels, Gambit and Colossus recognizing it from when they were still conscious and being taken there by Scalphunter. But when they arrived back at the Marauder's base, it was empty.

"Lady Mastermind must be projecting the image to us again," Colossus stated, remembering the first time they were there.

Gambit and Wolverine looked around the area, cautious over everything as they moved, "No. Something doesn't seem right. It almost seems like a…"

"…like a trap?" cut off Scalphunter, appearing from nowhere and holding his guns once again to the heads of Gambit and Wolverine.

"Maybe because it is one," replied Harpoon, holding a spear to Shadowcat and Storm's backs, both charged with his bio-energy.

"And you fools walked right into it," Scrambler added, as he approached Nightcrawler and Colossus, depowering both of them so Kurt couldn't teleport and that Piotr was no longer in his organic steel form.

The various other Marauders appeared around them to ensure their co-operation in their death sentence. Vertigo, Arclight, Riptide, Lady Mastermind; the only ones they all knew were missing were Mister Sinister and Malice.

Gambit felt uneasy at the very moment he realized that very sickening thought. He knew Mailce needed a host in order to be visible, or even to be existent. And from his previous experience with her, she was most likely to take the people closest to you in order to destroy you.

Gambit tried to see Rogue in his mind, back at the Institute, safe, where she should be. Never again have someone else take over her body.

Maybe it was too much to ask.

From the shadows of the far tunnels, the X-Men and the Marauders saw the man who orchestrated this whole event appear before their very eyes. His too pale skin contrasted to stark black of his hair, a body armor that masked that same color. Eyes that beaded a red so deep, you would think you were looking at his very blood. His stature was so menacing and his appearance so overwhelming, they almost had no idea how to comprehend a human that looked the way he did. Nor the way he spoke, "This shall be the end for all you X-Men. We are going to the pave the way for a stronger, more versatile mutant race to take over and to inherit what rightfully belongs to us!"

A figure then appeared next to Sinister, as if the most natural thing in the world. The Marauders regarded her as Malice, but the X-Men… they once knew her as Rogue. The woman looked like her, but she didn't dress, sound, or move like her. She was dressed scantily clad, much like the other women of the Marauders, more skin than the woman they knew would ever show. She sauntered up to Sinister and all but leaned herself over him, getting closer to a person than the woman they knew would ever get. And her voice… it was still strong, but it lacked the drawl and quality that they all already missed.

"And we shall start by taking down the very obstacles that stand in the way of that reality! Ms. Marvel, the Morlocks, and you!"

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OMG! You guys won't believe this, but I pretty much wrote this thing in one night! I think I got my groove back! Woohoo!

Cough

But yeah: Read, review, comment, suggest. Just don't flame… please?! Lol

Until Next Time…

(which I hope is soon!)